Friction-clutch mechanism



Patented @et 23, i923. y

eniran's'rarssA isngzi;

. JULIniv A. Brunner oaxrnni); cnrironnrn."

y Fnro'rIoN-cnnrcrr iancHANrsIir.

'Application fiiea July 1e,

mentioned clutches, is to provide va greater' Y release to the frictionmembers, and to lock the clutch levers, of a non-balanced lever system,against the influence of centrifugal force, when in Ya released ordisengaged position. f' 'In the drawings accompanying thisspeciicati.onFig. 1 is a longitudinal center cross section of myimproved friction4 clutch mechanism., imounted onl a shaft and Vshowingthe' relation of all its parts, with the `clutch in engaged position.Fig. 2 is a vcross section of tlieupper part of the clutch only, takenalong'the line 2--2 of Fig. l.

Fig. 8 isa cross section of VFig. italien along the line 3 3. o

Fig. 4 is a similar view to Fig. l, but shows the clutch with itsmechanism in 1` disengaged position.

Fig. 5 is a perspective sketch of the contractible ring friction member.

The enactr nature' of my invention will be.Y

readily understood by a more detailed refer ence to the drawing, asfollows,-

In Fig. l,V is shown at la shaft carrying the various friction clutchmembers. and with wliichshaft all the members areadapted to rotate whenthe clutch is 'in engage-V ment` as shown in this figure. f y Y And,while this invention has to do principally with aineans of .lockingdown, or in Areleased position, the clutch levers, vandl is applicabletoseveral differentforms offrictionclutches, it is here shown applied to acommon contracting ring type of friction clutch. Y

At 2 in Fig. l is shown aA sleeve, loose upon the shaft, and adaptedtoreceive on its outer surface 3, a pulley, gear, sprocket, or Whatever itis desired to mountV thereon, according to the use to which the clutchwill 1920. serial No. season be put. tfiis shown a carrier memberaffixedto the shaftby means of `the set screwsV y 5.- Tlie carrier membercarries a contractible friction ring memberb adaptedfto be ycon'-tracted by the clutch mechanism upon one end of the'sleeve'.

YA. pressure leverr 7. also supported onv the carrier, hasa4wedge'shaped end 20 adapte-d to engagea curved ,lug 21 formed onone endofthe friction ring 6.

Thepressure lever i isfpivoted to the car# rier yby ymeans of a. bolt'Spassing through both lever and carrier, and is movedup and down throughmeans of the. linksQ, pivoted at one r.end 1.0 to the youter end of thelever,I

and at the other end pivoted at l1 to a v sliding collar 12. y

The Sliding lcolla-r is slid or moved axial-y ly along theshaft by meansof an ordinary hand" lever 13, pivotally ratt-ached at i4 to a yoke V15freely bearingvin a groove in the sliding collar l2. f l I ylvhen thesliding' collar is moved'to the right, it'will, by reason of the-linkconnection described, vpull down the outerkend of the pressure lever andrelease or disengage the'clutcli. But `should therotated speed ofy theclutch be high, centrifugal force acting both on the lever and the`links 9 would immediately draw the sliding collar toward Sel thecarrier 4. and throw the clutch back iuto partial if. not ktotalengagement. The usual method of overcoming this tendency in a vclutchvhaving an unbalanced lever system similarto the one showrnis to providespring-s to stabilize the lever 7 when released, but lf provide aApositive lock to Ithelever in lreleasedfposition, regardlessfof theaction Ofcentrifugal force.v

This loclrconsistsfof-y a piu 17,1loosely passed through' the' lever andprojecting Yfrom both sides.` Thisr pin operates against the edges oftwo lugs 18.v cast on ribs 30 on the carrier 14, andwhen lever 7 isYpulled down by means of 'thesliding collar as de# scribed. a'furthermmvementk ofthe collar to Y the right draws the pressure lever bodily inan Vaxial direction and locks the'ends of the pin 171.V under the loweredges of the lugs 18. thus positively holding the lever in releasedposition against any action of centrifugal y, l

force. The lever 7 is shown insuch a locked Aposition, with clutchdisengaged, in Fig. 4.1

Togper'mit of the bodilyfmoving ofthe lever 7 in an axial direction (indirection of f slots 19 and its curved pressure end 20 contactsy withthe lug 21 on the contractible riction ring 6, after which aurther'movement ot the sliding collar to the left causes the outerjendof the lever to rise to the position shown in Fig. 1 and Wedge thepressure end tightly back of the lug 21 on the friction ring andcontract the latter upon the sleeve 2, and thus bring the clutch intoengagement, so that the sleeve `Will revolve as a-.unit with thecarrier, upon rotating the shaft.

The general form ci the pressure end of the lever- 7 is shown in crosssection in Fig. 3 at 20, and the lug formed on the ring with which itcooperates, is shown at 21.

To pro-vide tor adjustment or taking up the Wear on the inner surface ofthe ring 6, through use, I provide a bolt 22 passing through the carrierand also through a slotted lug 24e formed on the other free end of the'friction ring 6. Bearing against the lug 24 is a traveling threaded nut23 actuated Vby the bolt mentioned.k The bolt is locked by the nut 31bearing against the Washer 32. l

The form of the contractible ring 6 can be easily understood byreferring to the perspective sketch of same in Fig. 5, and which alsoshows the relation of the pressure re cciving lug 21,to the adjustinglug 24C. The ring is of a spiral nature, being slotted inwardly fromboth sides as shown at 25 and 26, and also along its center for adistance to give it resiliency, as shown at 27.

Itwill be observed that Iha've shown a single lever clutch whichnormally would, for this very reason, be considerably out of balanceunder high rotative speeds. But this is overcome by theincreasedthickness ot metal cast on the carrier at the position f 28, and on 4thesliding collar at 29, and

which extra metal acts as a counterweight to balance'the Weight of thelever and links diametrically opposite those points. Though it' desired,this same style ot' clutch can be made with two levers at diametricallyopposite points, and the friction ring divided inte tivo halves withseparate adjusting screws for each halt', or three or tour levers may beused similarly on larger clutches. Such symmetrical arrangements avoidthe necessity ci counteriveighting as described, and also maire it easyto divide or split the clutch, as it is termed in the art and are commonto all clutches operated through pressure levers. These manymodifications Will be readily understood by anyone iainiliar vvith suchdevices, and my particular improvement, the pulling down or" a clutchklever and then locking of same in released position `by bodily slidingit to another position under a locking lug, Will be seen to beapplicable tov all such modifications as Well as. to any other style ofa friction clutch having a pressure lever operating in a similarposition and plane as the one herein shown.

I claim 1. yA friction clutch comprising a carrier member, a clutchpressure applying lever pivotally and slidably mounted on said carriermember, a lever locking device on said carrier member, a sliding collarlinked to the pressure applying lever and adapted to be slid in onedirection to bodily shift the lever from engagement with said leverlocking device and to engage the clutch and to be slid in the oppositedirection to disengage the clutch and bodily move the lever intoengagement with the leved locking device.

2. In av rotary friction clutch, means for engaging and disengaging theclutch comprising a pressure applying lever pivotally and slidablymounted on the clutch, a lever locking device on the clutch, and meansfor actuating the pressure applying lever to engage and disengage theclutch and to slide the lever bodily and engage it With the leverlocking device. f

JULIEN A. BRIED.

Witnesses JAMES M. LnAvnR, Jr., C. L. l/VALTER.

